Elements of Visual Design – Texture

In our series of visual design, we have gone over many different things. We continue this discussion using texture as our element. Texture can be as big a compositional tool as the Golden Rule or Rule of Thirds. It provides a way for your viewer to connect with your image. Almost like they can feel the texture in your image.

Philip Schwartz did an amazing job in his image, Fall Reflections when he used water to reflect the image back to the viewer giving it a fluid texture. It is a good example of how to incorporate texture into an image.

Another example I can give you would be the bark of a tree or a freshly cut piece of bread. Both these examples offer rough textures that draw people in and make them want to see more.

Try this in your next image and see what you can find. Our next post in this series will be on space in images.